Coach Ed Cooley did his job this year and then some. The homegrown head coach needed a talent infusion and he went straight to the New Englanders to get it done. Normally one wouldn't get this fired up over the top players from Rhode Island and Connecticut, but Ricardo Ledo (Providence, R.I./South Kent) and Kris Dunn (New London, Conn./New London) are not your typical recruits. Dunn is the nation's No. 2 point guard and owns the best physical attributes of anyone at his position. Ledo is one of the best at getting buckets in the entire country.

Imagine playing pro basketball in New Zealand. Not a bad gig, right? Imagine landing one of the best amateur big men in the world from the country where you played pro hoops. Jamie Dixon leveraged a relationship from his playing days to land center Steven Adams (New Zealand/Notre Dame Academy). Nerlens Noel referenced Adams as the best big man he faced this season. Mix in James Robinson (Hyattsville, Md./DeMatha) as Adams' set-up man and the Panthers injected themselves with a dose of talent.